Still sick... sigh

I woke up this morning feeling the worst I've felt thus far.  I seriously considered calling in sick, until I remembered I had to submit some articles before the deadline, so I dragged my sorry bum out of bed, and got ready as quickly as my body would let me, which was only a minute behind schedule, which is fine, becuase most days my bus is late.

Today was not most days.

Today my bus had been early. 

So once I convinced my boyfriend to drive me to work (an amazing feat, since he despises driving, and dispising driving downtown even more), I figured the day had to get better. After all, it was pay day!

But I didn't get paid the right amount.

And then the bank locked me out of my online bank account

And I was so cold on the bus ride home that my fingers weren't able to work the key for door. 

And while I'm not convinced that I like the "Work" outfit on me, knowing that Jane and Sheila both think I looked fabulous in the turquoise colour the other day did perk up my mood. 

And strangely, my "Trivia at the local pub" outfit that I had planned didn't appeal to me at all, but layering the dress from this morning did, despite it being a trend I never really could get behind before. 

Capsule Wardrobe Challenge Day #2

And the swapping continues...

I woke up this morning to see a wind warning on my weather widget, and decided that even with the swap of a leather jacket from yesterday, I wasn't prepared to wait for the bus in layered short sleeved shirts.  I've now swapped out the short sleeve black T-shirt for a black v-neck fine knit sweater.

This was the first of the multiple outfit days - though not that dramatic of a change.  I've switched my pinstripe pants out for my skinny jeans.

I have this overwelming fear that something is going to happen that I'm going to need an extra piece of clothing, and so I haven't been wearing my black sneakers as planned this week, instead, relying solely  (get it!!!) on my ballet flats.

Of course, anyone who knows my obsession with shoes will think that strange too.

Also, I'm having serious regrets about not choosing a better bag for my school things.

Day One... sigh

Today was the first day of the "Capsule Wardrobe Challenge" and quite frankly, it's a bad week to be doing this.  It's the first really cold week of fall, and I mean really cold, and I've been trying to stave off this cold, but it finally hit me.  Not only does the capsule as is not allow me to reach for my cozy favourites, it's also limited by the number of layers I can throw on to keep warm. 

As such, I've decided that until it's been worn, any article of clothing can be swapped out.

Thus, this morning, I swapped out my black trench coat for my leather jacket to help keep me warm on my walk to work. 

The pic is from when I came home, exhausted, and thus I don't look as polished as I'd like, but I didn't realize it until I'd changed into jammies (yes, at 4:00 - I'm a poor sick girl), but I think it all worked.

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I've posted, and that's mostly due to the fact that I've been fighting with a cold, fighting with a boyfriend, and fighting with an ever increasing list of things to do.  I did put some effort into clothes on Friday, but it was a variation on a very standard outfit for me.  I did put some effort into clothing last night, to try out a new skirt that I bought, but I wasn't thrilled with the result.

But I would say the main reason that I haven't been putting my efforts into here is because I've been putting my efforts into Jane's Capsule Wardrobe challenge.

From Monday to Friday of this week, I'm trying to create all my outfits from 10 articles of clothing and 5 accessories.  While this technically only needs to be 5 outfits, due to my chaotic schedule of being different people at different places, I'm creating 7 outfits to be worn over 5 days from these limited selections.

I will note:  I reserve the right to use "umbrella" as an addition to the 15 items.  I looked at pulling a scarf and including the umbrella, but I'm really grumpy about how we've gone straight from 30 degrees and sunny to 10 degrees and rain, skipping my favourite 17 degrees and walks through the colourful leaves.

The thought behind the clothing I chose came from an article I came across from 2008, predicting that for fall of 2009, black and white, with jewel tone accents, would be all the rage.  Whether or not it is, I'm unsure, but what an easy way to come up with a colour scheme.

Clothing - 10 pieces including jackets and shoes
Jacket
1.  Black trench coat
Pants
2.  Pinstripe pants
3.  Skinny jeans
Dress
4.  Shirt Dress
Shirts
5.  Green tuxedo pleated shirt
6.  Teal tank
7.  Purple Wrap sweater
8.  Black t-shirt
Shoes
9.  Black sneakers
10.  Ballet flats

Accessories - including bags
A.  Blue and teal necklace
B.  Pink large purse
C.  Black purse
D.  Black belt
E.  Blue, teal & purple scarf

Please note:  underwear and hosiery are not to be counted towards totals.

First Day of Fall

I looked at the temperature and saw that the first day of fall was going to be cooler than the last couple weeks, and so I joyful unpacked my cordoroy skirt, my orange sweater and my brown boots.

Then it ended up being 24 degrees and I felt over dressed.

In any event, I looked like fall.  Here's how I transitioned my "Work Wear" to "School Wear" Today.  I had come up with the work wear, but hadn't even thought about school when I came home for lunch.  I have 90 minutes between work and class, which sounds like ample time to make lunch, eat lunch, change, and even do a bit of reading.  However, the bus leaves 15 minutes after I'm done work (down to 75 minutes).  It takes another 15-20 minutes to get to my apartment (55-60 minutes).  It takes 10 minutes to walk onto campus (45-50), and another 10 minutes to get to my classroom (35-40 minutes), not to mention I like being there 10 minutes early (25 to 30 minutes).

I also pick up my mail at lunch so in that 25-30 minutes, I generally get distracted by some rage over service charges, clerical errors, and grocery fliers in the process.

As such, I generally like to have my next outfit lying out for me.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen today, and since my bus decided to be especially irritable switching gears, I was down to about 20 minutes from when I arrived to when I left.  I just quickly through on a pair of jeans, and left without looking at myself.

I wasn't entirely sure how I looked this afternoon, as I could only see parts of my body as I walked passed glass reflections.  I couldn't get over how long and bird-like (in a bad way) my legs looked, thus I took pictures as soon as I got home, to see how horrifying I actually looked.

Sweater:  Smart Set
Cami:  Rickis
Jeans:  Bluenotes
Skirt:  Smart Set
Boots:  Shoe Warehouse
Belt:  Steve Madden / Winners

Turns out I like the second outfit that was thrown together more than the one I had so eagerly planned.

Not that I didn't enjoy the image of myself as a bird

Home Day

This is the last week before I start my second job, which means I decided to take advantage of the time off and get some stuff done around the house.

Of course, some of this involved leaving the house, and thus, I got dressed. 

I do look rather young in this outfit, so I shouldn't have been surprised that cashier at the grocery store looked shocked when I mentioned I had taught briefly in a high school. 

My list of other things I've done today included laundry, reading, baking cookies and prepping today AND tomorrow's supper.  Oh, and did I mention I also did my usual tidy and clean? 

Sigh - some day I'll make someone a wonderful 1950s housewife.  Just as soon as I can find one of them that's trainable!

Skinny Jeans - Bluenote (Altered)
T-shirt - Fox Racing
Jacket - Smart Set (Thrifted)
Scarf - Ardene
Shoes - Giant Tiger

Feeling a little better

I started feeling a little better, so Scott and I went out to a few places in Regina we've been meaning to explore.  We started off going to a book store, which I believed was one of those awesome dark, kind of dingey places where you find all the books you never knew were on your "Must Read" list. 

Nope, definitely a commercial type place.

However, we did have a bit of fun wandering the grounds of the legislative building.  Perhaps we should have worn jackets because it was rather cold.  I thought I'd slipped my camera into my bag, but evidently I hadn't - oh well, next time!

TA meeting

I always find that a jacket takes any outfit from "ordinary" to "business".  However, I've gotten rather bored of the two short sleeve jackets that I currently own, and the idea of wearing long sleeves in +30 weather is rather stupid. 

In any event, I decided a shirt would work just as well, since I didn't really need it as much "business" as "Believe me, I'm old enough to be teaching!"

And thus, I wore this to my first TA meeting for the English Department

Dress:  Old Navy (Erica)
Shirt:  Bootlegger (Jill)

Posting will be sporadic over the next few days - this is Friday's outfit.  Yesterday I did change - from one pair of pajamas to another.  Today, after I get some food in me, I'll decide if I'm well enough to get dressed for the day.  Oh, the joys of being sick. 

I've felt better

Oh, the repercussions of nights on the town... I'm impressed that I look as pulled together as I do, even if my hair is wet, and I'm wearing only the most minimal amount of makeup.

Shirt - from Deb
Cami - Smart Set

Jeans - Joe

One of Two outfits

It's been too hot these days to function, and to be quite honest, the clothes I wear to work / class tend to be quickly exchanged for something more acclimatized to an unconditioned apartment the minutes I walk in the door.  Usually I pause on the way to take a picture.

But I wasn't in a good enough mood to do that yesterday.

However, I had to put on real world clothing to go to Trivia Night at the Lazy Owl.  When we got home far too late after spending far too much on far too much beer, I decided to take a picture.

Shirt - Joe, altered
Pants - Bluenotes, altered
Gladiators - shoe warehouse, altered

Busy, but good

I'm finally settling into like.  I'm cracking jokes in classes and at work.  I don't rush to hug Scott when I come in the door and burst into tears.  All in all, progress.

Of course, when I'm happy, I get weird.  So I asked Scott (who's feeling better finally!) where and how I should take my picture.  The first one is his opinion:  the bathtub.  At least he's as weird as me.

Dress:  Suzy Shier (2000)
Sweater:  Rickis
Jacket:  Value Village / Smart set

Funny Face

Despite going to my first official Teaching Assistant related duty today, I threw on jeans.  Why?  Because I wasn't thinking "responsible and respectable" when I got up.  I was thinking "Damn, my hair will rebel on me because it's going to rain". 

In any event, I was properly attired for sitting through boring seminars on how to teach.  That's right.  They're trying to teach me something in 6 hours that apparently I didn't learn in the previous 2 years of my education degree. 

But I digress.  I think it was the silhouette of the skinny jeans with the ballet flats. 

A simple outfit, yes, and very similar to ones I have worn before (which I'm beginning to read, more and more, that it is somewhat of a faux pas... alas, one I am very willing to commit), and I'm sure I'll be wearing it again. 

Sunday Best

Scott woke up in the middle of the night with a cold, so neither of us got that exceptionally well of a sleep.  As a result, I found myself up and knitting by about 8:30.  Perhaps it was an attempt to stay away from the germs, or perhaps the boredom, I decided to get myself into my Sunday best and try out the church around the corner.

As romantic as it sounds to attend "the church around the corner", I was closer in age to the children who went off to Sunday school than the grandparents that remained.  Better luck next time, I suppose.

In any event, the purse I grabbed yesterday always reminded me of something that I figured women would take to church in the days when my grandmother was my age, and slightly older.  I'm not entirely sure why.  The retro feel of the silhouette yesterday also felt retro.  So today, I decided to keep with the some what retro vibe and wear a more classic lined dress.

Dress:  Joe
Scarf:  Value Village
Jacket:  Smart Set
Shoes:  Shoe Warehouse
Purse:  hmm... Claire's?  I don't remember

To market, to market

What a better way to explore a new city than to hop on the bus to get downtown, then wander on foot!  Scott and I decided to visit the farmers' market to pick up some local produce.  I was quite upset - we apparently missed pea season.  Squashes are the choice these days, and so we ended up with a spaghetti squash.  Our adventures with that can be read here.

We also ambled through stores, took in lunch on a patio, and a free tour of the local theatre company:  the Globe Theatre (Scott doesn't think it quite compares with that of the same name in Jolly Olde).

It's been quite nice here lately - about 24 degrees, so I wanted something that was comfortable and yet some what chic for wandering around.  The shoe (not pictured) gave me blisters, because I didn't wear them as thoroughly as I did last year, but other than that, I was happy.

However, the belt did look better once I adjusted it down a bit - I look a little short waisted here.

Skirt - Smart Set
Shirt - Smart Set
Belt - Winners
Shoes - Shoe Warehouse
Purse - ?

At least I feel like a student

I was aware that I didn't get into the most prestigious grad school - to be perfectly honest, I didn't want to deal with the pretentions, so I quite satisfied with my choice.

Little did I know, this grad school functions like undergrad, quite possibly becuase there are a plethora of 4th undergrads in all my classes. "Hybrid class" my ass. Sure, they do it all the time at the MA / PhD level, but those are GRADUATE level classes. Ugh. *

Anyway, I've had difficulty feeling like a grad student, getting acclimatized to the new job / new place / new school, and this morning was the first time I really felt like me, and thus threw on my "new" skinny jeans**, a tank, boyfriend cardigan, and my gladiators.

While I didn't feel like a graduate student, I at least felt like a student.
*On a better note, Scott was bugging me about the impetuousness of my pictures (I pick a spot, I line up the shot, then decide what I am going to do just before the flash goes), and I didn't cry! Yeah!
** these jeans, as mentioned on my other blog, were flare jeans that I altered into skinny jeans.

I may have to live in my mind

Everything always looks better in my mind than on my body. So rather than nitpicking since I probably don't look horrible, I might as well just live in my head. I'm thinking I'm more the type to wear a cardigan closed rather than open. Maybe that would help.

The only interesting thing about the outfit, I guess, is the shoes. Not because they're all that spectacular (they're pretty much basic black pumps) but becuase of what happened when I wore them.

I'm very afraid of wearing newer shoes on very flat smooth floors, like the pedway that we walk through every day on the way to coffee at the new office. While I now know they aren't the "fall on your ass" type shoe, I was still relieved at the end of my work day when I could be walking on concrete. However, I quickly found myself barefoot on the pavement, with the heel of my shoe lodged in a crack in the sidewalk.

While I was able to quickly remove it with no damage to the shoe or me (well, minus a bit of a hit to the pride), it (hmm - being both the outcome of the outfit and the shoe incident) was fairly symbollic of how life has been going lately: not necessarily traumatic, but just not right.

Shirt: Rickis
Cardigan: Garage
Pants: Smart Set
Shoes: Aldo
Necklace: Rickis

The Big Day

Today was my first day of work and my first day of grad school. After our relatively hot heat wave, we're now seeing seasonal temperatures, which mean cold mornings, which sadly mean pants.

I wore the black pants to work with the black ballet slippers, then switched to jeans and yellow ballet slippers for class.

Still not looking or feeling super grad school - I'll have to work on that!

Jacket - Value Village
Shirt - Smart Set
Black Pants - Rickis
Jeans - Joe (Superstore)
Black Ballet - Giant Tiger
Yellow - Superstore

Wedding #3

I bought this dress (the awesomeness of the sheer top layer is lost in the pictures) when Scott and I were in the big city for Folk Fest. He promised me he'd find an occaission for me to wear it before we moved to Regina. He found the occasion, but it was one week post move, but I guess we'll still call it a win.

Dress: Out of the Blue
Shoes: Aldo
Necklace: Grandma

Hot Child in the City

I've decided the way to deal with this late summer heat wave, when the majority of the year has been roughly 20 degrees (Celsius) and we're suddenly surprised with 30 degree weather, just as I move into a third floor apartment - without air conditioning or balcony - is to pretend I'm from New York.

So what do New Yorkers do when they're hot? Hell if I know!

Scott and I did board the bus and head downtown to check out my new office, where I'll be starting on Tuesday. We also grabbed some cool drinks at a coffee shop, pretending we're that city-fied couple where one surfs the internet on their netbook while the other reads the paper.

Our evening entertainment consisted of going to Walmart to enjoy the cool air conditioning.

This dress was the perfect option for the heat, with the exception of when the wind blew it up in the Walmart parking lot. Good thing I was wearing my polka dotted underwear! (no pics of that - sorry!)

Dress - Bluenotes
Cami - Rickis
Shoes - Shoe Warehouse
Bag - Lug

Also - I've started another blog to detail my craft / cooking / other adventures in my new city: http://carathecraftycook.blogspot.com

There is an episode of Sex and City in which Carrie complains that she can't indulge in her "Secret Single Behaviour" when Aiden moves in.

Well, folks, that's where I am.

I'm officially moved into my new apartment in my new city to start my new life (which doesn't mean a) that I'm all unpacked and b) that I'm happy to be here). Scott's staying with me for a few weeks to help me settle in, and to get a better chance at starting his life here in the city. I figured after not snarking at him, or bursting into tears and having cleared a spot in my bedroom big enough to do so, I set up my tripod and went to take a picture.

Now please note, the non-tear stained face, and the availability of space were not the determining factors in when I would be taking the picture. Rather, I chose to execute this plan when he had gone to take the garbage out (really, I'm a horrible girlfriend for chewing him out as much as I have over the last two days - not only did he take out the garbage of his own volition, he made me supper and bought me flowers too).

Despite the fact that he could pretty much read this over my shoulder as I type this, given our necessity to hover around the solitary fan I snaggled from his old apartment, the simple act of taking this picture all of a sudden seemed vain.

This of course, is highly ironic, given I tend to never like the picture of myself, but rather focus only on composition or the fashion angle when I view them. Why I suddenly have this overwelming sense of "I must hide this from him" is beyond me.

In any event, the new life technically started today. After bidding adieu to my parents this morning, we walked around my new campus, got my ID card, textbooks, and met with my tentative thesis advisor. Given summer has suddenly hit (after weathering 20 degree days for most of July and August, September 1 brought two 30 degree days, back to back, and with the week sticking around that temperature as well), it was difficult to find something that said "I'm a grad student, take me seriously", "It's freaking hot out there" and "I'm comfortable to walk in".

I had originally wanted to wear my jean pencil skirt with this outfit (especially after A, from Academichic, raved about hers yesterday), but couldn't bear the thought of traipsing around campus in little footsteps as necessitated by my skirt. While it's not my best "grad school" outfit yet, it's a start.

Walking short - Stitches
Shirt - Bootlegger (Jill)
Belt - Mom's
Shoes - Gladiators